


bridge the world

by stilinscry



Series: nct drabbles [22]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Airports, Lowercase, M/M, Meet-Cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-24
Updated: 2017-08-24
Packaged: 2018-12-19 13:48:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11899047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stilinscry/pseuds/stilinscry
Summary: jeno meets a cute boy at the airport and life is okay





	bridge the world

**Author's Note:**

> okay this is based on my layover experience on wednesday, i shit u not the cutest boy sat across from me and then struggled to open his sandwich packet for like seven minutes it was so sweet 
> 
> not beta'd as of yet

“hey, is this seat taken?”

jeno barely hears the question over the boom of girls day in his ear, but he does, so he nods, expecting the person to just drag the chair away from his table to sit somewhere else. that’s not what happens.

instead of wandering off into the expanse of the airport canteen, the person dumps all their stuff on the table and then drops down into the chair, right across from him. jeno looks up in surprise, not really knowing what to do next and god, looking up is a mistake because the boy sat across from his is adorable as heck.

his hair is somehow bright red but also pastel and the colour looks amazing against his tan skin. he looks tired, which isn’t surprising considering that everyone at this terminal is here on long haul layovers, but despite this he’s still glowing. he’s got a constellation of freckles across the right side of his face and jeno is mapping them out when the boy looks up and their eyes meet.

his breath hitches and he knows that he should look away because at least ten seconds have past and they’re still holding eye contact but jeno can’t bring himself to break it. eventually, cute red boy cracks a smile and jeno is dead. this is it. the end of lee jeno’s life. his impending death must show on his face because cute red boy’s face falls, smile morphing into a look of confusion and jeno freaks out and drops his gaze back down to his sad looking fries.

the next couple of minutes pass by slowly. jeno eats his sad fries and tries not to pay too much attention to the cute boy sat in front of him and he’s doing a good job at stopping himself from looking up. well, that is until cute boy starts fiddling with his sandwich packet. and by fiddling, i mean furiously pulling at the sides in an attempt to get it open. like, the plastic is crinkling and the thin cardboard is bending and caving under his hands but he doesn’t seem to be getting any closer to actually freeing his sandwich.

jeno watches for five whole minutes as cute boy fights with his sandwich packet until he feels like he needs to intervene. he reaches his hand out across the table, slowly pulling the sandwich carton from the boy’s grip and surprisingly, cute boy lets him. when jeno looks up, he realises that the boy is flushing lightly, his tan cheeks tinted pink and jeno can’t help but smile as he ducks his head to open the packaging.

he fully anticipates having an even worse time than cute boy, and totally embarrassing himself in front of him, but the gods must be looking down on him because the card rips easily under his grip. he doesn’t open the carton fully, just enough so that cute boy can do the rest himself and then he slides it back across the table.

this time, when he raises his head cute boy’s face shows a mixture of offense and gratitude.

“how did you?” he asks, looking down at his now open sandwich carton suspiciously and all competent thought leaves jeno’s head because now that he’s properly paying attention to this boy’s voice, he realises how sweet it is.

“um, i- hands?” he replies, tilting his head to side in time with the inflection as if he’s not exactly sure if that’s the right answer.

“hands?” cute boy deadpans, looking more than a little confused. jeno nods. cute boy chuckles. “well uh, thanks i guess. good hand job.”

cute boys face falls as soon as the words leave his mouth, his eyes widening and he immediately raises his hands from where they were resting on the table to wave them frantically in front of jeno’s face.

“i didn’t mean it like that. i didn’t mean to say those words in that order. i was gonna say- well i don’t actually know what i was gonna say but it definitely wasn’t gonna be something dumb like that,” the boy rambles, his words jumbling together as he rushes through his apology. “i just got distracted because wow, you’re really cute and it’s kind of hard to speak good- i mean speak well when there’s a cute person in front of me and oh my god please shut me up because i don’t think i’m ever going to stop and i’m just embarra-”

“okay wow, please breathe before you pass out.”

jeno’s interruption does its job, halting cute boy in his tracks and just like he was asked, he takes in a couple deep breathes before rubbing a hand over his face and shaking his head a little. when he looks back up at jeno he looks decidedly more put together.

“this was really not how i wanted to break the ice between us,” he says, voice a little softer than before and jeno’s heart is starting to beat a little faster in his chest.

jeno smiles. “so uh, how did you want to do it? because i have to say, i think that’s the most memorable first impression i’ve ever gotten.”

“of course it’s memorable, i accidentally congratulated you about a sexual favour and then i rambled until i almost choked on my own spit.”

“well, when you put it like that.”

“let’s just- can we just start over?”

jeno hums, pretending to mill over cute boy’s question but he caves when he notices the massive fucking pout being sent his way. “yeah okay, i guess we can do that.”

“brilliant,” cute boy says and then he’s standing from the table and walking back across the canteen, leaving his yet untouched sandwich and the rest of his belongings with a very confuddled jeno.

it doesn’t take him long to figure out what the boy is doing, and he can’t help but laugh as he watches the boy do a circuit around the canteen before making a beeline back to their table. a sweet smile spreads across his face as he sits down and jeno reciprocates it.

“hey, is it okay if i sit here?”

“yeah, go for it. on one condition though,” jeno says, smirking a little when cute boys head tilts. “tell me what your name is.”

“donghyuck. lee donghyuck.”

“okay then, mr lee donghyuck, you may sit.” jeno waves his hand, much like those fancy butlers on british tv shows do when they pull a chair out for someone and donghyuck chuckles as he sits down. “i’m jeno by the way. lee jeno.”

“jeno,” donghyuck says quietly, almost as if he’s trying out how it sounds coming from his own mouth and jeno’s heart skips a beat when donghyuck shoots him a beaming smile. “i like it.”

looks like his five hour layover isn’t going to be that bad afterall.

**Author's Note:**

> in other news i saw lee donghyuck in real life for the third time on sunday and i made eye contact with taeil and dongyoung :^) twt me @igbthyuck


End file.
